What�s the main difference between old guy like me and a 25-30 year old bass fisherman these days .

Probably WHY you fish.

I know I fish because I enjoy it and it�s fun competition beteeen local guys in tourneys. I think the young crowd idolizes the tubers and the cool factor of the lifestyle.

boat speed.

So now fishing is a lifestyle?

Paleeeez....

At the end of the day they don't feel as tired as us old guys. Money shock, we know what thing uses to cost.

sure it is. It�s all about the look. The bright l, ugly clothes. The videos that lead to fame and fortune!

Over half the guys I see fishing are there for the boat/fashion show....not because they know how to fish.


This is my opinion. If you wear bright pink and chartreuse shirts, matching shoes, and white fishing poles and reels that match your Costa glasses.....and you catch fish on a regular basis, this doesn�t apply to you.

I would think the old school guys use different methods. Things like yo-yo-ing a spinnerbait and things that you just don�t read about anymore. I�d imagine that they don�t use google earth and scour the Internet for fishing info about their lakes.

But I�m stuck between old & new.

I feel like I am in both categories. I am old school in the regard that I just love to fish for the pure sport of it. I am new school in the regard that I love to learn new techniques. Too many folks get hung up on how they did it 20 years ago.

I don't fish for little fish but I am very capable with a dropshot or a finesse rig & 6# line.

I enjoy seeing someone else catch a fish almost as much as catching the fish myself. I love to learn new techniques and put my own twist on them to see if I can be successful doing it slightly different. I also love to teach and I am pretty good at it.

The advantage I see with the new young guns are their ability to network their electronics and find fish faster than I ever could. My fish finders are seven years old and basically obsolete.

I'm sitting in the middle of those two groups. Things like clothing change every generation, your style/trends were probably different than your parents too and are fairly irrelevant as far as fishing goes.

I think the biggest factor is the technology. This forum is pretty heavily anti-youtube, but the wealth of knowledge there can not be understated. Yes, you have to sift through random worthless fishing dramas to get to the gems, but they are out there. Guys like Tactical Bassin, Bass Resource, and even all the Elite (MLF) pro's that do Bass U that give straight in depth explanations about every single fishing topic you can dream of. The older crowd seems less willing to take advantage of that some times. Even this forum itself use to have good fishing related discussions that weren't available outside of a tackle shop or expo in person before, now its more often just the text version of all the youtube drama most of us hate ironically. The use of this information has shot the young anglers years ahead on the learning curve.

Also, the efficiency with electronics can't be understated. I know way too many older guys who have expensive electronics that hardly know how to turn them on at best. The younger anglers seem to naturally understand them whether they are inclined to use them or not.

Yes, there are plenty of young guys that don't catch fish, but the ratio of older guys that don't catch fish is probably the same too. Time on the water and just pure dedication seem to be the main factors there. With the time usually being the prohibiting factor in both groups due to other obligations.

Look at how competitive the college tours are right now and how much knowledge they seem to have at such a young age. Guys like Jordan Lee in that age range coming out and straight dominating. When I was in college I would have been content with chunking an inline spinner all day. I didn't have any family that fished and didn't know how in depth it all went. Now with all the resources instantly available that learning curve is significantly diminished for the younger angler.

In general, I've seen the following differences when observing anglers in a non tournament setting.
Louder on the water--either music or hollering
More likely to boat flip a big fish vs lipping or netting
More likely to catch and release.

THANK YOU ,,,, at 66 years young I like all the new stuff -- Pink/chartreuse shirts & white (now neon yellow) poles.
But I still go OLD SCHOOL to catch fish --- purple worms with white tails, white spinner baits & white roadrunner grubs with a big ol' red dot -- they still catch fish. I also use an anchor and drift fish weed beds.....now that is a lost art form in fishing

I think it's mainly the younger crowd embarrasses technology... Old farts have it but don't use it to it's fullest capability... Dan

Think you meant �embraces�.

Dentures

Old school guys don't plaster the internet with pictures and reports because they don't want ten new boats at the ramp the next time they go out.